Fair Play
by discopolice
Summary: One-shots. Some gen, some Eva/Pinpin, some one-sided Eva/Amalia.
1. Stitches

She feels like their hearts are sewn together and he holds the needle.

Eva hasn't felt like this since she was fifteen, since she looked at Amalia with darkened eyes and wished for that soft skin and that winning princess smile to be hers. Since she whispered it to her in the middle of the night and since the pained faces, and the desperate touches, and the next morning the _I'm sorry but we can't do this,_ the _I just don't feel that way_, the _can we please still be friends._ The day after that, Eva hardened her smile and hoped to Cra that she would never fall in love ever, ever again.

It's like Pinpin yanks on a stitch in her chest every time he spins gracefully, or not, with that Cra-damned sword of his. With every one of his stupid grins or Piwi-brained ideas, with every time he runs off after some great honor, he pulls the thread taut. It hurts Eva to know she's getting sucked in again and it's not even her fault.

Yet, there's something that brings her back to that tanned, chivalrous _moron_. Maybe her heart likes the ache of the stitches; maybe her heart just likes nestling up against another. Maybe her heart likes being able to steal some of the fire from that damned Iop and spit it back at him, making him just as vulnerable as she is.

Maybe it's the way that even if he goes to save some damsel in distress, he gives her that look that says _don't worry, you're my number one girl._ Maybe it's the way his chapped lips suckle the back of her neck as he wraps himself around her. Maybe it's the way that he makes her feel safe. It gets tiring to be a bodyguard for a princess, to always have to look behind you for a threat that may never come, to be the _less important one_ while everyone looks up to the princess, and Pinpin's always willing to take that stress on his own back.

And Cra, isn't Pinpin a _stupid name?_

It fits the Iop-brain. He calls her Evie, sometimes, in private. She figures a dumb nickname for him is just turnabout.


	2. Cruel Daze of Summer

For years, Evangelyne has run. Since childhood, she has run. Run for Amalia, run for the king, run for her princess' every need, always with an eye cast over her shoulder waiting for an ambush. At a moment's notice, she must be prepared to protect her princess and her kingdom; there is never a rest for the Cra. Even in sleep she's watching her back, watching Amalia's back, a hand poised at her bow and another at the quiver.

The most tiring run, though, is running away from herself, chasing her tail in circles like a young and excitable bow wow, desperately avoiding feelings building in her head and her chest and her core. Over the years, Eva's desire to protect becomes not only of duty and honor, but of a different desire that pulses through her being with an intensity enough to scare her more than any battle, a strength that would propel her through a million forests if it weren't enough weakness to stop her from charging through one. When she sees Amalia's smile, a fire is lit within her chest; when she admires her princess in full regalia, unfamiliar wetness spreads between her legs. Eva is scared for her life, so she flees from it again; but every time it finds her.

At 15, Evangelyne is run ragged, and she finds herself panting and sobbing at the feet of her princess. Amalia's tender eyes cast on her in worry, and Eva can hold the façade no longer. In the beating summer sun her feelings spill from her lips like the tears from her eyes and the sweat from her brow, and Amalia drinks them in; as Eva feels herself sinking into the ground next to a small puddle of her own tears, Amalia grasps her hand and pulls her out of the darkness, to a place with light she hadn't imagined possible.

She finds herself in Amalia's bed not long after, gently exploring her princess's warm body, lapping sweat from between her breasts and whispering into her chest _please, please, let me love you just tonight_ – and Amalia does, Amalia reciprocates and finds things about Eva she's never known, breaks all of Eva's bodyguard barriers and comes to her soft and vulnerable core in a room filled with little squeaks and ragged breathing.

Evangelyne awakes to an empty space in the bed next to her and a note:

_Father has found out. We can't do this. Let's please still be together as friends and traveling partners, okay?_

_3_

Eva runs to her own room, drops to her knees beside her lonely bed, and cries.


End file.
